PROGRAMME OF MODERN WORKS – Masterly renderings
Madame Suggia followed her recent recital of old masters with a second recital yesterday at the Wigmore Hall, dedicated to modern, and comparatively modern, composers. Composers – not masters. A short piece of Dvorak and another, equally short by Debussy are not enough to give character to a programme in which are found the variations of Boëlmann, the Humoreske of Sinigaglia, the Serenade of Kreisler and the Habanera de Ravel – most trifling and least exquisite of the Ravel’s exquisite trifles.
But the quality of the music did not interfere to any appreciable extent with our pleasure. The touch of Mme Suggia is life, and even the Boëlmann variations acquire at her hands moments of beauty and moments of great interest. If there was no special beauty in the phrase, there was always great beauty in the phrasing; if the ornamentation was tawdry, its weakness was hidden by the grace and finish of the performance.
And in a way we were glad of this opportunity to give our whole attention to the technical aspects of the rendering. No doubt the greatest musical pleasure is only possible when a great player is matched by great music. But there is also a pleasure in seeing a past master at work on second–rate material, mending, re-fashioning, restoring, polishing, till its poverty is no longer apparent. When the master in question is Mme Suggia that pleasure may surpass expectation. F.B.